In this project, Paramita Baruah at the University of Birmingham, explores how to prevent a type of brain tumour called ‘vestibular schwannomas’.
This tumour develops along the hearing and balance nerve and can cause permanent hearing loss and tinnitus – even when removed with or without surgical removal.
Project start date: June 2025
Project end date: June 2028
About the project
In this project, the researchers will look at tissue taken from vestibular schwannomas to understand what the tumours need to grow, and what can reduce or prevent their development – and thereby prevent the development of hearing loss and tinnitus with the tumour.
How it works
The researchers will chart the individual cells found in diseased (tumour) tissue and healthy inner ear tissue to identify which cell types are driving tumour development. They will focus on immune cells (which cause inflammation), and stromal cells (which form the tissue scaffold), known to play important roles in the growth of other cancers.
Using state-of-the-art genetic techniques called single cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, they hope to discover new molecules that can be targeted by new treatments.
Additionally, the researchers will examine how these cells use glucose and oxygen to help ‘feed’ the tumour. Finally, they will test for factors (called biomarkers) in the blood of people with vestibular schwannomas that are linked to tumour growth and hearing loss and tinnitus.
How could this research benefit people with tinnitus?
Current treatments for vestibular schwannomas are surgery to remove them and radiotherapy to shrink them. These processes can sometimes worsen the underlying symptoms, like permanent hearing loss, and problems with facial movement and balance.
This work could ultimately lead to new treatments for vestibular schwannomas, helping to prevent or reverse tumour growth and protect against hearing loss and tinnitus.
About the researcher
Paramita Baruah is Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and a Consultant ENT Surgeon at the University Hospitals of Leicester. She was awarded the RNID Discovery Research Grant in June 2025.
I am delighted that RNID has funded my work on vestibular schwannoma which will allow us to study the immune responses in the tumour and how inflammation and metabolism affect the inner ear. This work will generate novel research findings and open new lines of investigation and treatments into preserving hearing.”
